98 INTRODUCTION. 



question as it regards the immediate neighbours of 

 Arabia, and next offer a few facts which we think 

 completely refute the argument. Although Mecca 

 and Medina, and the Edomite camel-riding clans of 

 the west coast and Wady Moosa, may not have 

 possessed many horses, the admission in no way 

 disproves that abundance of them were in the hands 

 of the Bedoueen tribes, and in Yemen. They are then 

 already described riding naked like the Numidians, 

 without saddle or bridle, and guiding their horses 

 with a rod or with a single thong. The first conflicts 

 of the prophet, with his own tribe and others, were 

 mere mob quarrels of townsmen and camel herds. 

 Even at this day, the Edomite Arabs, residing along 

 the upper part of the Red Sea, exclusively use ca- 

 mels or walk : their country is too barren to sup- 

 port more than sheep and goats; and the people 

 talk of the riding Arabs, and their splendid horses, 

 with winder, envy, and delight. * But the Be- 

 doueens, the true wandering Aral ibn Arab^ for 

 many centuries the neighbours of Canaanites, Baby- 

 lonians, Syrians, Persians, and Parthians, robbers 

 by profession, could not possibly be without them. 

 Already, before the fall of Jerusalem, Hebrews of 

 the tribes of Manasseh and Gad, stray remnants of 

 the captivity, had taken refuge in the desert, and 

 exercised a nomad system of warfare under a suc- 

 cession of their own princes. They fought great 

 battles, they captured Mithridates and two brethren, 

 Asinous and Anileus, and defeated a Parthian army, 

 * See Laborde, " Journey through Arabia Petrea." 



